Overview of Page Titled
Purpose
People who use screen readers and other assistive technologies rely on every web page having a clear, accurate, and unique title. A meaningful page title helps users understand what the page is about without needing to interpret all of its content. Unique titles also make it easier to navigate between multiple open tabs or windows.
Search engines often display page titles in search results, which helps all users find relevant information more easily.
How to Test
- Use an automated accessibility checker to verify that each page has a unique and descriptive title.
- Manually inspect the page title to ensure it accurately reflects the content and matches common link text where appropriate.
Learn more about context and unique titles
Best Practices
Write Unique, Concise, and Accurate Titles
Mark Twain once said, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Take the time to write short, clear, and descriptive page titles that accurately convey the purpose of each page.
Whenever possible, make the page title match the common link text used to navigate to that page. This supports consistency and meets Success Criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
Tips for effective page titles:
- Use correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Keep titles brief but informative.
- Make each title unique across your site.
- Ensure the title communicates the page’s main topic or purpose.
- Maintain the original tone and intent of the page’s content.
For example in this Knowledge Base take a Look at the <title> element of each page. This page’s title is <title>Overview of Page Titled | Equal Entry Knowledge Base</title>. Another page in this Knowledge Base will follow the same general patte4rn such as.
<title>Login</title>
<title>Accessibility</title>
<title>Overview of Info and Relationships</title>
Exceptions
There are no exceptions — every page must have an accurate, descriptive, and unique title.